Thursday, August 10, 2017

It's been a little while since I've posted anything, and it's been an even less little while since I've done an installment of the
Silly Nate Film Club. Since all I really do with this thing is gush on and on
about random movies I like, I was thinking about putting the kibosh on it
altogether, but then I got to thinking about how much negative content there is
out there in relation to movies and pop culture in general. Whether it's
"10 Reasons This Movie Sucks" or "5 Things to Hate About The
Movie You Previously Loved," all the nerds seem to have a serious beef
with something and are taking it out on our nostalgia! So I figured, a little
gushing from time to time certainly couldn't hurt.

The film I'll be gushing over today is one that's always been
towards the top of my personal "Movies That Make Ya Feel Good" list. From
1981, it's The Great Muppet Caper!

"Nice title!"

This is the second film in what I consider to be the Muppet
Trilogy (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan) and
definitely my favorite. For the first installment, The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson handed the directing responsibilities
over to James Frawley, but for The Great
Muppet Caper, he took the helm making this his directorial debut! This may
be the reason why I love it as much as I do. His love of musical numbers,
comedic takes, special effects, and just movies in general seem to shine through
from beginning to end.

As well as his love of dining on the... tops of... pineapples? What's that all about?!

In a time of cinematic universes, and never ending debates
over what is and isn't canon, it's refreshing to look back at a movie that
basically just says, "Screw it. Let's be nutty." They're the same
Muppets we love, but with a premise different than the usual "We gotta
make it into show business!" storyline. They've already made it... and
this is the madcap nonsense that they've produced as a result. Kermit and
Fozzie are identical twins, Charles Grodin plays the American brother to Diana
Rigg's British Lady Holiday, and the entire supporting ensemble of Muppets live
in a dilapidated London hotel without any explanation! It’s glorious insanity
as only the Muppets can deliver!

With plenty of paper towels!

What The Great Muppet
Caper proves is that the Muppet characters aren't nailed down to a specific
premise. Their stories don't define them. They're characters that are so well
developed, they can be in a wide variety of different situations and still feel
familiar. Fozzie Bear is Fozzie Bear, whether he's a struggling comedian or a
wannabe newspaper reporter, he’s the same lovable bear regardless of what duties
the script assigns him. This, to me, helps the brilliant illusion that the
Muppets are actually real people. This, like the big opening musical number
states, is a movie within a movie… and the Muppets are just the film’s players doing
a comically horrible job staying in character.

"I don't need this lousy Duck Pond!"

This type of thing was done again in films like A Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Treasure Island, but The Great Muppet Caper did it first, and
in my opinion, best!

And now’s the part of the show where I gush about specific
moments in the movie that I love so much.

...I need to come up with another word
to use besides ‘gush’. I’m starting to feel gross.

HiiiiiiiiiiYaa-ing the Fourth Wall - While I’m not entirely a fan of the term “Breaking the
Fourth Wall,” I usually love whenever it happens. The same goes for a good
running gag. The Great Muppet Caper
is, by no means, exclusive when it comes to the Muppets and these techniques.
They’re practically Muppet staples! But there’s just something about the times
they’re used in this movie that I like a little more. No reason why. Charles
Grodin’s character being called out by Miss Piggy on his dubbed singing voice,
or Miss Piggy climbing the side of a building while demanding a stunt double
are some great fourth wall-breaking moments that add to the whole movie within
a movie aspect. (There’s probably a joke in there somewhere about Miss Piggy
being good at wall-breaking, but I’ll refrain from making it.)

And as far as running gags go, the whole Caught
Red-Handed/What Color Are Their Hands Now routine is nothing short of cinematic
poetry!

Muppets
on Bicycles - Speaking of cinematic… good… stuff, the scene in The Great Muppet Caper where the Muppets
all ride through the park on bicycles is one of the greatest special effects in
the entirety of film history! I went to film school, worked in the field of
video production for almost two decades, and watched James Cameron’s Avatar more times than any functional human
being ever really should, and NOTHING get’s a bigger “How’d they do that?” from
me than when Kermit and Company go peddling down that sidewalk. And while I may
just be bragging about my own incompetence there, you still have to admit that Jim
Henson and his team worked some pretty amazing pre-CGI movie magic with all of
this!

The
Pets Are Dead - The
Great Muppet Caper was written by Tom Patchett, Jay
Tarses, Jerry Juhl, and Jack Rose who are a bunch of dudes whom I think
(SURPRISE!) did a fabulous job! One scene that stands out to me as being
beautifully written is the humorously dull conversation between the older
British couple played by John Cleese and Joan Sanderson. The subject of the conversation
is basically NOTHING, yet the subtlety of the gags mixed with the timing of the
actors manages to crack me up to this day!

The Pig Walks at Night - I don't know if he’s made it this far into this post, but in case
he has, this last bit is for a friend of mine. There’s a quick shot in the film
of a sad Miss Piggy walking down an empty street at night. It’s filmed from a
high angle looking down and is basically just a far off shot of a person
wearing a Miss Piggy mask. As brief as it is, it really creeps out a friend of
mine… so… yeah. Look upon her, Jim. Look upon her and dream!

I think that song's supposed to be funny because it's the opposite of what Donald's actually like. You know... irony? Whatever. My sense of humor's always been more of the poop variety, but I digress.

On this day in 1934, the duck with all the bad luck made his debut in the short, The Little Wise Hen and the rest, as they say, is history. Donald has always been one of my favorite cartoon characters. Here's my take on him as seen in the single greatest television show of all time... Ducktales!

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Video Game Night is a pretty big deal in our house. Every Friday, my daughter and I turn on the Nintendo Wii and stay up til the wee hours fighting with swords and riding on yoshis. By far, one of our favorite games to play is Lego Star Wars. In addition to being able to play as pretty much any character in the franchise, you also have the ability to customize your own characters. Here's the one I made. My daughter, who was about 4 at the time, named him... Guffer.

As is my way, I thought I'd go ahead and re-interpret Guffer in my own style. I'm also working on giving him a backstory. So far, he was in fist-fight with Count Dooku, dated Oola the slave girl for a while until feeling too pinned down, and is good friends with Dash Rendar... because Dash Rendar is PIMP!

By the way, the name my daughter (who, remember, was 4 at the time) gave her character... was Dark Poop.